NASA underestimated cost of space station by billions, GAO says

May 02, 1991|By Knight-Ridder News Service

WASHINGTON -- NASA underestimated the possible cost of the redesigned space station over the next decade by as much as $10 billion to $20 billion, congressional investigators said yesterday on the eve of a House vote on 1992 spending for the project.

Last month the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the scaled-back Space Station Freedom would cost $30 billion. More than $4.5 billion of that already has been spent on preliminary planning and design.

While NASA has declined to forecast costs over the expected 30-year life of the controversial project, the total could reach $118 billion to $180 billion, according to estimates from the General Accounting Office and staff analysts for the House Government Operations Committee.

But he admitted that the $30 billion estimate excluded such costs as those of the scientific experiments the station is to carry, development of an emergency return vehicle for station astronauts and the long-term operational costs of servicing the project with shuttle flights.

Some of those costs aren't yet known, Mr. Truly said.

Representative Dick Zimmer, R-N.J., said he would offer an amendment to the NASA authorization bill on the House floor today that would require a study of the scientific value of the space station.